Angels Yet To Begin Interviewing GM Candidates While Awaiting Sale Approval

The Angels have yet to start interviewing candidates for their top position in baseball operations, interim general manager John Mozeliak tells reporters (including Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register). Mozeliak, who’s under contract through December, remains in charge of the front office as the offseason gets underway. It’s a less than ideal spot that’s a product of the Angels’ pending sale. Arte Moreno agreed to sell the franchise to Stan Kroenke’s group (officially known as Kroenke Sports & Entertainment) on September 1 at a $4 billion franchise valuation. That’s awaiting official approval from the other 29 owners, however. The timing on that varies but frequently takes a few months. The most recently approved franchise sale (Padres) was agreed upon in mid-April and not finalized until August 17. Moreno fired former GM Perry Minasian and tabbed Mozeliak on an interim basis on June 26. They gave Mozeliak the autonomy to trade controllable starter José Soriano to Toronto for a package led by shortstop prospect Arjun Nimmala. However, the ownership change seemingly ensured that Mozeliak would not hold the GM role for the long term. He told reporters a few weeks ago that he’s not a candidate for the full-time job and intended to step away once a new hire was in place. The Angels also moved on from skipper Kurt Suzuki. It wouldn’t make sense for Moreno to oversee a GM hire right before he leaves. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic wrote on Tuesday that Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE) was not permitted to make a GM hire until MLB approves the agreement. Mozeliak essentially confirmed as much this afternoon. “We’re going to wait on the vote, and once the vote happens there will be an aggressive pursuit,” he said of the GM search. Mozeliak said his own role in advising on that process remains unclear but that KSE will unsurprisingly take the lead on the search. The new GM will then be in charge of the managerial search. The Angels will essentially be in a unique spot on both fronts. Every other club has their head of baseball operations in place; the Astros are the only other team with a current managerial vacancy. When will the sale be approved? Rosenthal wrote that it might wait until next month, after the implementation of a lockout on December 1. Mozeliak suggested today that it might take place at the quarterly owners meetings scheduled for November 17-19. However, Bill Shaikin of The Los Angeles Times subsequently reported that the Angels’ sale is not currently on the owners meetings docket. Fletcher writes that it’s not expected to be a late addition to the schedule, so it seems it’ll be at least a few more weeks. That leaves the organization in a holding pattern with less than a month until the lockout. They have a few of the game’s most obvious trade candidates (e.g. Reid Detmers, Zach Neto). There’s nothing requiring the Angels to move them before the lockout, but the rest of the league can’t afford to pause its own offseason activity waiting for the Halos to move. Mozeliak said he and his staff are monitoring the front office and trade markets but downplayed the idea of making any big splashes until there’s a new group in place. “I doubt we’ll be pulling the trigger, but you never know. Things happen,” he said. While they can wait to see how both markets look after the lockout, there’s one group of free agents who’ll need to come off the board within the next few weeks. The four players posted from leagues in Japan or Korea (Teruaki Sato, Kaima Taira, Hiromi Itoh and Si Hwan Roh) all need to sign before the lockout or remain with their current clubs for 2027. The Angels might not have wanted to be huge players in free agency with their need for a retool, but the posted players are all 29 or younger and could fit with a longer competitive window. The Halos only have two players on guaranteed contracts — Mike Trout and Yusei Kikuchi — and an arbitration class that’ll likely cost $20-25MM after non-tenders. There’s an argument for them to use their available spending room on an upside play for Taira or Sato, but the logistics of operating with an outgoing ownership/front office group make that challenging.